Champion Grunt
by Palancar
Summary: A man finds himself in a new world, luckily for him he not only recognizes the world he finds himself in, but he is also intimately familiar with several of the mechanics of the world. However, he finds himself as the lowest of the low in one of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations.
1. Chapter 1

**Yo! I own nothing you recognize, it belongs to its respective owner. That aside, don't expect regular updates this was little more than a plot bunny that just kinda expanded so I decided to publish it. If I update again it could be in several years or several hours *shrugs*.**

I woke with a start at the crack of a whip. Knowing that there shouldn't be a whip in my apartment I jumped out of bed and looked around trying to get my bearings. What I saw was a barracks like room, most of the people sleeping on bunk beds, luckily for me I seemed to be one of only 2 people not in a bunk bed, otherwise I would have smacked my head against the upper bed. As I looked around things became clearer and clearer like I was understanding my situation, how I got there, where I was, who I was with, and more. Like I was coming out of a very very very disorienting dream. The whip cracked again as I attempted to understand what was happening to me, and rather than risk my hide I simply did what I felt was right. I threw on the uniform on the nightstand next to the bed, went outside and stood at attention in front of the Officer who was waiting for us new recruits to get out here. Thankfully I was the first one which gave me a few minutes to figure how I knew all this, since I most certainly had no military training in the past, and no idea how I ended up here. As I thought about it I just knew I was getting closer, only just as I was about to get it the whip cracked again and the Officer yelled, "Alright you sorry excuses for shit. 10 laps, now go!"

I instinctively headed in a direction where I found a large track, it was at this point I realized I was underground or inside a large building because there was a rocky roof over my head. The track was about 4 times larger than the ones I was used to seeing which means the Officer had ordered us to run something like 10 miles. Thankfully I could think while I ran I went back to trying to figure out what was going on. It was quite the surprise to realize about 5 laps in that I realized what had happened. I had been transmigrated or reincarnated or something, because I also recognized the uniforms all of the trainees and the Officer were wearing. I was a trainee for Team Rocket.

I finally finished the laps and had a small break while the rest of the trainees finished their run. I used that break to decide what I wanted to do. Do you go all in with Team Rocket just to survive, or do I try and break away now before I get in too deep? The answer to this boiled down to whether I cared enough about the darker aspect of Team Rocket enough to willingly abuse Pokemon, attack strangers, kidnap and kill people. To be honest, I really didn't. Which led to me thinking about whether I could use Team Rocket to secure my survival or not. Ultimately, I decided that it was probably best at this point in time to stay with Team Rocket. If I could work my way up the chain of command I could gain quite the connections and resources to use for my own survival.

Thus, I decided to do what I needed to do and just push myself in an effort to make myself stand out. If I'm lucky the Officer in charge of us will reward my efforts with a recommendation to skip Grunt rank and jump straight to becoming an Agent.

It was a week later that I noticed my efforts weren't being wasted. I had changed beds during the past week, taking the bed saved for the most promising trainee. The only real difference was that I was closer to the door and the bed was slightly bigger, but an improvement is an improvement. On top of that I saw the Officer constantly glancing at me, meaning I had gained his attention, hopefully it meant I was closer to a promotion and he wasn't going to try and force himself on me. It took another week for me to realize that it wasn't just the Officer that was paying attention to me, but several Elite Officers as well.

It was to the now common and expected crack of a whip that I woke up. I quickly got dressed and made my way outside to wait for the rest of the trainees, the now rather soothing sound of the Officer yelling at the other trainees coming from behind me.

"Wake up assholes! Get your asses in gear your training continues in 5 minutes, anyone late gets lashed!"

The Officer yelled this out every morning, and every morning regardless of whether someone was late or not there was at least 1 person whipped. Of course, I had never been whipped since I am always the first person ready. It was less than 3 minutes later that the Officer was dragging out 2 regulars when it came to being slow. James, is a young man with shoulder length blue hair who was a spoiled rich kid not used to waking up before noon. Jessie, was a young woman with exceptionally long red hair, who just couldn't understand why the bastard Officer would keep whipping a "beauty" like her.

Yeah, those failures are part of my batch of recruits.

It was 10 minutes later when the whipping finally finished and the day's training began. For the next 7 hours I was pushed through a variety of exercises. Not just physical, but mental as well. Honestly, if the training is like this for all Rocket grunts it makes me wonder how they haven't taken over the world, Giovanni has to be a giant moron or something.

It was while I was lost in thought about how dumb Giovanni had to be that the bastard Officer interrupted my thoughts and yelled out, "Jeff! Get over here!"

I held back on rolling my eyes as he called me over and simply jogged over to him and said, "Yes, sir?"

"Follow me. The Boss wants to speak with you."

I could as my eyes widened in surprise at that statement. It's an unwritten rule that he only ever met with members that were at least Officer rank. It took a moment for me to notice the bastard had already started walking away so I quickly followed him. We walked in silence for a while before we finally stopped in front of an ornate wooden door that looked thick enough to withstand a herd of stampeding Tauros. The Officer just knocked on the door and when it opened signalled for me to enter while he didn't move from his spot.


	2. Chapter 2

I walked in cautiously and saw a rather dark room, it's only source of light being the skylight window I'm the ceiling. On either side of a rather large desk were a filled bookcase with a variety of books, and sitting behind the desk was Giovanni, who looked quite a lot like I expected him too. Not far from him was a large Persian looking at me with a bored expression. After a moment to take in my surroundings I asked, "You wanted to see me Boss?"

Giovanni just stared at me for a bit before he said in a flat tone of voice, "Yes. Your performance as a trainee had been noted, and I have a mission I wanted to send you on. However, I'm not convinced you are right for the job. Tell me, what do you think about Team Rocket, and be honest Persian will know."

"I think it's pathetic. For a supposed criminal organization, it's made up of a bunch of idiots and common thugs. However, I also think the organization has potential. Right now, it's just a giant organization helping fools break laws for little to no gain. They need a direction beyond just the occasional mission."

At my words Giovanni's right eyebrow Rose in surprise and he asked, "Oh? And what direction would you give them?"

I just shrugged and said, "Hell if I know. However, I'd probably start with taking over the league. Shouldn't be too difficult with Team Rocket's resources. You would just need a few skilled trainers, with at least one of them becoming the Champion."

At my words Giovanni smirked and said, "Yes it would, but that requires a single team capable of beating the entire Elite Four, and the Champion without rest. Something not even I can do."

I smiled at that and said, "Ah, but that's because you're too set in your ways. Your best bet is to take a talented trainee, give them the resources and time to grow, and then set them on the league."

"You've obviously thought about it. Say I told you to become the champion, how would you do it?"

Rather than immediately answer I thought about it for a bit and said, "The first thing I would do is figure out all 5 Pokemon of each member of the Elite Four. Then I'd decide on the Pokemon I would want to bring to fight each one. Assuming, I'd have Team Rocket's resources behind me, I would use them to get me an egg of the 6 Pokemon I decide to have on my team. Of course, there might be some requirements regarding the parents of those Pokemon, after all egg moves are very useful when used properly. Once I had them I'd train them until I decided they were battle ready before heading out to complete the circuit as fast as possible. With the completion of the circuit I could then get back to training my team without interruptions. Assuming all goes well, then I should have a team specifically created to deal with the Elite Four and Champion."

"What Pokemon would you use?"

"Well, that would depend. Assuming the breeders know what they're doing and can get the egg moves I would want, then to beat Lorelei I would use a Scrafty or a Pangoro. Most of her pokemon are weak to fighting type attacks, and those that aren't are weak to dark type attacks. Both of those pokemon are naturally Fighting and Dark type pokemon which gives them a big advantage against her. Against Bruno, there are a ton more variations simply because not all of his pokemon are fighting type. I would have to choose between three, a Primarina, Whimsicott, or a Claydol. All 3 have the type advantage, against his team. Against Agatha, I would probably use a Claydol. Claydol's typing is just too good of an advantage over her Gengars. Against Lance, my preferred pokemon is probably not much of an option, but I would prefer an Ampharos, however that would require me to take a trip to Kalos or Hoenn to see if I can find the item an Ampharos would need to fully counter Lance's team. Then there is the Champion, the best single pokemon I can think of to deal with him would be an Aurorus typing wise. With an open slot on my team I'd round it out with a Corviknight for transport and coverage."

Giovanni folded his hands together in front of his face as he thought about what I said. I just stood there waiting for what felt like 20 minutes before he finally unfolded his hands and stood up. He reached out his hand and said, "Congratulations on your promotion, Agent Jeff. Your first mission is to become the new champion of Kanto. You have two days to give me the specifics of the pokemon you want to be your starter. The next League Circuit is in 2 years, with the next League Conference in 3 years. You will participate and win."

I stared at Giovanni in shock at the sudden promotion, before I smiled and shook his hand while I said, "Thanks Boss, however I hope you realize this is going to be expensive if you want me to raise my team to be the best they can be."

Giovanni just sighed and said, "We can discuss your budget later, for now, go gather your things from the barracks. I'll send someone to meet you there to lead you to your new room."

I just nodded and left as I decided which pokemon to start with.

Two days later I had settled into my new suite and worked out my plan. I had gone over some pokemon research and compared it to my own knowledge of pokemon from the games, and realized there were some differences because this wasn't just a game but real life. Simple things like Potions only last for 2 weeks after buying them from a Mart, or that freshly picked berries last only a day or so. Another big one was that Pokemon had to eat, it hadn't actually occurred to me yet since other than the Boss' Persian I had yet to actually see a pokemon.

I was walking to Boss' office as I thought about that stuff, and with a knock on the door it opened and let me in. Rather nonchalantly I greeted the Boss with a slight wave and said, "Yo."

Giovanni just shook his head in disappointment before he gestured to a seat in front of him and asked, "Are you ready?"

I took the seat and replied, "Yup. I've decided that I want a Mareep as my starter." I took out a piece of paper from within my jacket and handed it over to Giovanni as I continued, "It needs to have the egg moves Electric Terrain, and Iron Tail."

Giovanni read through the official pokemon request form before he asked, "Why?"

"Ampharos is the linchpin to the team. It could theoretically single handedly take out Lorelei, Lance, and the Champion. Claydol would be the second pokemon I ask for since it will theoretically be able to deal with Agatha and Bruno. Between the 2 of them taking out the entire League top brass, I figured it would be best to bond with them as much as possible."

Giovanni looked thoughtful at my words before he said, "Fine. I will set my best breeder on the Mareep. You will have it when it's ready. While you wait I want you to draft up an estimate on the resources you might need to train it."

It took 4 days for Giovanni to send me a messenger asking me to come to his office. It was rather obvious that either the Mareep egg was ready or the breeder couldn't figure it out. Following the normal procedure of knocking on his door then entering when it automatically opened I saw a somewhat stressed out guy standing off to the side glancing nervously at me as I entered. Based on his clothes he looked like a rather stereotypical breeder, green overalls and all.

Rather than waiting for anyone to speak first I just came out right and asked Giovanni, "He couldn't figure out how to breed a Mareep with the 2 egg moves I asked for could he?"

Giovanni just shook his head so I turned to the breeder and said, "That, is very disappointing. Take a female member of the Mareep line and breed it with a male Manectric that knows Electric Terrain. Doing this will result in an egg that gives a Mareep with the egg move Electric Terrain. Do this until the egg hatches into a female Mareep. Then you breed that Mareep with a male member of the Aron line that knows Iron Tail, and you bring the resulting egg to me. It should have the Electric Terrain and Iron Tail egg moves. Oh, and make sure one of the parents is a timid pokemon and that it is holding an everstone while it is breeding."

After I finished telling the breeder how to do his job I turned back to Giovanni and said, "I thought I was coming here to get my starter, but since I'm not do you have time to go over my preferred expenses?"

Giovanni nodded at me and waved his hand at a chair in front of him, which I rather quickly sat down in. He then looked at the breeder and said, "Get his Mareep egg as soon as possible."

The breeder just nodded so much I was wondering if he was a prank or something and just a large lifelike bobblehead. Once he finished his bobbling he literally ran out of the room.

"Well that was disappointing, I'm going to have to give those instructions for every pokemon I want aren't I."

Giovanni just sighed and said, "Probably. Anyways, what are your expenses?"

The next hour and half was spent with Giovanni and I arguing over the expenses, in the end I won and he approved my nearly $600,000 monthly expense. Although he kept the right to cut it if his doubts regarding the necessity of it proved true.

It took another week, but the breeder finally brought me an egg. While he was here I informed him of the Baltoy the boss was going to approve for me at some point, the only requirement for it was a lax nature. He assured me he would have it for me in a month, because of Team Rocket's policy between being given pokemon. I just accepted that and took the Mareep egg in its incubator and started walking around the compound with it as I spoke to it. I figured it probably didn't matter how much I walked, but it's not like I had anything better to do, so I just walked and talked telling the Mareep everything I expected from it and that I would do for it once it hatched. Again, I don't think it mattered but the egg hatched after about 5 hours of walking. I, of course, immediately caught the newborn Mareep in the pokeball I had been given. I then swiftly ran to the private Executive Training Grounds, that Giovanni made an exception to let me use, signed myself into one and then sent out the Mareep.

Mareep and I just stared at each other for a while before, it, because I honestly have no idea how to tell which gender it is. After a couple minutes Mareep suddenly became shy and stopped looking at me. Seeing it back down I walked up to it and started petting it on its head, not afraid that it would shock me at all, because unlike normal pokeballs Giovanni has modified pokeballs that essentially brainwash any pokemon caught into obeying the catcher. Regardless, I spent the next several hours playing with Mareep and examining her, or at least I think it's a female.

It was exactly 4 weeks after I was given Mareep that the breeder showed up again with another egg, he told me it was the Baltoy I wanted. This time I didn't walk around and talk with it, although I kept it on my person at all times. It was a few days later during my daily early morning jog that Baltoy hatched. After catching it I went to Giovanni regarding an increase in my budget since I now had a second pokemon. We argued for a while before he eventually led me to a lab where I brought out Mareep who was then subjected to several hours of test, only for the results to surprise both Giovanni and I. Apparently the rather excessive expenditure spent on raising Mareep has her well above the normal strength of a month old Mareep. So much so that Mareep is actually stronger, statwise, than most if not all Flaaffys that can be found in the wild. I was surprised because I honestly expected all the vitamins to decrease in effect or become completely useless by now, however it seems the difference between game and reality hits again. The expensive vitamins I give to Mareep every day have in fact been increasing Mareep's EVs, however because it is real life and not a game there is no predefined cap, it might also have to do with the fact I only give Mareep one of each vitamin a day and then have her train for the entire day. Regardless of the reason, the results show for themselves and now Giovanni has given me approval for an unlimited budget, provided I give him a report with everything I did and will do once I think my training method is complete. With that I waited a week to bond properly with Baltoy then had a chopper take me to the Johto Battle Frontier and had the Move Tutors there teach Mareep Shock Wave and Magnet Rise, and the Baltoy Gravity. I should probably mention that I have Team Rocket's scientists currently working on creating an item that will duplicate the effects of all the power items, like the Power Bracer and the Power Anklet that help train a pokemon's EVs. Basically, even if it's a lesser effect I want them to take whatever is making those work so well and create a single item that affects all stats. I have high hopes for them, but in the meantime I have 1 of each item on Mareep and Baltoy to supplement their training, when you include Baltoy's control over gravity making training even more effective then I think it's safe to say my pokemon will be monsters in the future.

Once again I found myself standing in front of Giovanni's door, it's been a year since I first woke up as Jeff the Team Rocket grunt, and I can honestly say that being a part of a criminal organization has its benefits. The lack of morals made it easy to find some stress relief, for little more than me calling the breeder and telling him what I wanted. Seriously, it's amazing what people are willing to do to get what they want. Even besides that no one has given me much trouble, and if they even tried Baltoy would freeze them with massively increased Gravity and Flaaffy would shock them into unconsciousness. They're a bit protective of me. Anyways, I knocked as per usual and entered Giovanni's now very familiar office since I spent almost a day every week inside it as he taught me more about how Team Rocket operated, and we discussed the training of my pokemon.

Upon seeing it was me Giovanni smiled and said, "Jeff, this is an unexpected surprise. We still have several days before we are supposed to meet."

I honestly smiled at the genuine warmth in his voice and replied, "Yes, but I'm here to tell you that I want to get my last pokemon egg and that I will be leaving a month after it hatches. Flaaffy is so close to evolving, but needs that final push a good battle will give, plus I want to see if I can find the item I initially spoke about. There are 3 places I want to check for it, the abandoned power plant south of Rt. 10, New Mauville, and if neither of those places pan out then a trip to Kalos to see if the rumor I've heard about an old man having an item that sounds like what I'm looking for is true."

I watched as the smile on Giovanni's face dropped and turned into a frown as I continued to speak. Once I was done he asked, "Who were you thinking of challenging for the battle to evolve Flaaffy?"

I actually had to pause and think about it for a second before I answered, "I was thinking about challenging Erica. Her pokemon should be around a similar strength level, and with no real type advantage one way or the other it should push Flaaffy enough to evolve. The Circuit doesn't start for almost another year, but gym leaders still accept challenges during the off time."

Giovanni sighed before he said, "Fine, pass on your order to the breeder. I'm not going to force you to stay here or or return within a specified time limit, just make sure you keep me updated on your progress."

Knowing our talk was over I stood up and went to leave, however, just as I reached the door and walked through I turned back and said, "Thanks Boss, I honestly expected my time in Team Rocket to be shitty, and be worth little more than a paycheck, but I can honestly say that because of your willingness to believe in me and support me practically unconditionally, you don't need to worry about me cutting ties, just don't expect me to abuse my pokemon." I then continued to walk through the door and left before he could respond.


	3. Chapter 3

It took 3 months for the damn breeder to bring me an egg with the appropriate egg moves, which is kind of understandable since I was asking for it to know 5 egg moves. The Scraggy that hatched from the egg will be an absolute monster in the future with all the help it'll get training from the rest of the team, on top of all the resources it will be given. Scrafty was one of my favorite pokemon, so I'm super motivated to help it grow. If it comes down to it, I'm hoping Scrafty will be able to solo the entire League conference once we get there. With just under 3 years for the Conference, I have a lot of training to do.

Standing in front of me are the 6 pokemon I've hatched and trained since my promotion within Team Rocket. Front and center was Flaaffy, being my strongest pokemon and my starter she claimed the spot closest to me. Right next to her was the newly hatched Scraggy, who was looking at me in awe, I don't know why but I'm not going to complain about it. Floating just above and slightly behind Flaaffy's head was Baltoy, who was waiting for its orders. Brionne stood practically on top of Scraggy, not in an intimidating manner but a protective one, which is smart because it wouldn't be the first time a grunt tried to steal one of my pokemon, in fact it has happened enough for each member of my team to get a chance to be blooded. Every single one of those grunts were executed for daring to think they could try and steal from me. Giovanni just sighed and started mumbling about needing to add an intelligence threshold to the entrance requirements. Amaura stood in the same position as Brionne, but on Flaaffy's other side. Under Amaura was my Rookidee, he unfortunately has a bit of wanderlust and somehow got lost for the first week after he hatched. He eventually found his way back, but since then I had assigned Amaura to watch over him, now any time he tries to flap away Amaura just uses Icy Wind to make it impossible for him to fly. Seeing them all ready and waiting for me to begin I said, "All right guys, we will be leaving here in 3 months. You all need actual fighting experience beyond the trash the grunts use and fighting yourselves. During this time I'm hoping for Flaaffy to evolve into Ampharos, and if we're lucky Baltoy and Brionne might evolve into their final forms as well. Flaaffy, because of this expect me to push you harder during these 3 months, even more so than the rest. Scraggy, because you just hatched you can't train too much, but I'll start you on the correct diet, and get you going on some basic exercises to help you get used to your body. Once you're ready for actual training, expect to be pushed hard, you are currently the weakest member of this team so I expect by the end of these 3 months for you to catch up to them in strength. Am I understood?"

Every single one of them gave an approving noise. With that our intense training began, however, what I didn't tell them was that if those 3 didn't evolve I had already planned out which gyms to challenge to force the evolution. As I told Gionvanni, I would challenge Erika for Flaaffy, Blaine for Baltoy, and Sabrina for Brionne.

I can honestly say that Scraggy has managed to seriously impress me over the last 3 months. He went from being a newborn to being able to fight Corvisquire, my newly evolved Rookidee with little to know trouble. On top of that while I know he has a while before he evolves he's already taller than the average height for his species pre-evolution. If this keeps up, he's not only going to be a monster in power, but size (at least relative to his species) as well. The normal Scraggy tops off at 2 feet even, but my Scraggy is already 2 feet and 3 inches tall, and he is still young and growing. It was obvious with his growth, but after checking all of my pokemon are a bit bigger than the recorded averages for their species. I'm not sure why this is, but the only thing I can think of is that because I was giving them too many vitamins it needed to go somewhere and thus they grew because of it, but I'm not a doctor or a scientist and the Team Rocket doctor says they're all perfectly healthy so I'm not going to worry about it.

I once again stood in front of the door to Giovanni's office, this time to inform him that I was leaving the base. After our last meeting he actually promoted me from Agent, which is usually reserved for field operatives, to Executive. Doing this made it so I only took orders from the boss himself and not even other Executives could order me around. Something a couple of them had done, which wasn't all that bad since they just made me and my team participate in a few field operations. A few pokemon that had to be killed and some pokemon to steal, pretty easy snatch and grabs honestly, they also allowed my team to experience fights outside of the sparring we do in training, something they desperately need more of. With the door opening automatically, I really should ask him how he opens it, seriously I had Flaaffy check and it wasn't opening because of electronics and I never see a pokemon near the door when I enter, I entered with my usual greeting, "Yo."

I smirked as Giovanni shook his head in disappointment, the one thing that really really really bothers him is slang, so of course I make sure to use as much of it as possible outside of serious discussions.

Giovanni gestured for me to be seated before he said, "Jeff, it's been 6 months since you said you were going to leave. The Circuit starts in 6 months, when are you leaving?"

At how blunt he was and the tone of his voice making him sound like a very disappointed parent, I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment because I'm now almost 8 months behind schedule. However, I quickly overcame my embarrassment and stated, "I was actually here to talk to you about that. In the past 3 months since I received the final pokemon I was waiting on, I have managed to evolve my Flaaffy into an Ampharos, my Baltoy into a Claydol,my Brionne into a Primarina, and my Rookidee into a Corvisquire. On top of that my Scraggy has now been trained enough to hold its own in a fight and is actually capable of defeating Corvisquire in combat regularly. I was hoping to leave within the next few days, but I wasn't sure where to go to get all the supplies I need, and I was hoping to get transport to a few specific locations so I can try and find the item I mentioned that would help Ampharos, then to have me dropped off in Saffron City where I will train and battle other trainers to give my team more experience. I'll then start my Circuit by challenging Sabrina."

As I mentioned the evolutions on my team Giovanni's eyebrows rose in the only way he ever expressed shock. By the time I was done he had a thoughtful look and after a few moments he calmly said, "Give me a list of supplies you think you need by tonight and I'll have it sent to your room tomorrow. As for transport, I have 1 pilot running a reconnaissance mission over by Cerulean the day after tomorrow so he can drop you off at the abandoned power plant that you wanted to explore. If you are done by the time his mission is over then I see no reason he cannot take you to your other stops, however if you are not you will be on your own."

I nodded in acceptance of his offer and gestured with my hand in a way he would know I was asking for a pen and paper. It was fifteen minutes later that I walked out of there with a smile on my face. If everything goes to plan I will gain another powerful tool for my team.


End file.
